


Safe and Sound

by Nevanna



Category: X-Men Evolution
Genre: Episode Tag, Gen, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Season/Series 02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-29
Updated: 2014-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-06 17:38:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1866552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevanna/pseuds/Nevanna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a dangerous mutant uses them as puppets, four of the X-Men try to return to their lives as usual.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safe and Sound

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place directly after the second-season episode "Mindbender." It was written in response to the "insecurity" challenge on the LiveJournal community **comicdrabbles**.

In last night’s dream, Kitty knew that she needed to run, to get away, to shout out a warning to the others, but she couldn’t move a muscle. She woke up while it was still dark, knowing that she wouldn’t be sleeping for the rest of the night.

She’s safe. They’re free. It’s over.

This isn’t the first time that she’s risked her life against a dangerous mutant and then gotten out of bed the next day, dressed, brushed her hair, and gone to school, like nothing happened. It’s just the first time she’s done all of those things with a giant hole in her memory, and understood that _anything_ could have happened.

\--

Evan shudders as he passes Jean in the hallway. He doesn’t mean to. It’s partly the memory of her cold and expressionless face before he blanked out, and partly instinct, like when he swerves on his skateboard to avoid a lamppost.

She reaches out to touch his shoulder, and then pulls her hand back at the last minute. “Evan, I’m so sorry. For what I did, for what all of you had to…”

“Don’t worry about it.” He tries for a grin. “See you in the Danger Room after school, ’kay?” He hasn’t blown off training in months, but he never thought he’d look forward this much to a session, where at least they’re facing enemies that they can fight.

\--

“Mr. Wagner, would you mind coming up to the board and completing the second proof from the end of Chapter Five?”

His math teacher’s voice interrupts the circus calliope music that’s been playing in Kurt’s head all day. “Sorry. I didn’t…” _I didn’t do the homework because my friends and I were mind-controlled into a life of crime_. He’s tempted to say those words aloud, just to see which of his classmates would laugh, and whether the pretty girl who sits a few seats away would be one of them.

At the lunch table, with a steady stream of jokes about the cafeteria food, he settles for trying to make his teammates laugh instead. It’s all he can do for them… and for himself.

\--

“There’s no need to blame yourself for what happened, Jean,” Professor Xavier says. “You weren’t in control of your own actions.”

“I know I wasn’t.” Jean remembers that when they returned home from the fairgrounds, he sifted through her mind, and Kitty’s, and Evan’s, and Kurt’s, searching gently but thoroughly for any residue of Mesmero’s tampering. She tried not to flinch from the mental contact that she had welcomed so many times in the past. “I think that only makes it worse,” she says now.

“One of the reasons why the X-Men exist is to ensure that mutants like Mesmero cannot harm others. That’s why I need you all to be strong.”

“I’m getting there.” Jean can promise that much, and she can hope that soon they’ll all feel as secure inside these walls, and inside their own heads, as they did before.


End file.
